The knockout shot. The crowd on its feet. A hand raised in victory. These are lasting images for fans sold on the rush of mixed martial arts.

However, for filmmaker James Feng, those images are but a glimpse into what it’s like to be a fighter. Feng saw his first MMA bout in August 2008 when a neighbor competed in a local San Francisco Bay Area show.

“He told me he made about two to three thousand dollars that night, and I thought that was pretty low,” Feng told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It just wasn’t a lot of money, especially when you’re fighting only a couple times a year. He told me about how much he had to train and how much money he spent and invested in this fight … all the supplements he had to take and fees he had to pay. That’s when I realized that this lifestyle is not something that’s very glorious.”

For the next several weeks, Feng, 26, immersed himself in MMA and experienced the hard-scrabbled life of fighters by visiting gyms. It was an eye-opening experience for a storyteller who dabbled in martial arts as a kid, but had little exposure to MMA before seeing a fight in person.

Through his research, Feng learned that a mixed martial artist outside the bright lights of the UFC made an average of $11,000 a year – just $170 more than the single-person poverty level in the U.S. He also discovered that nearly 70 percent of fighters don’t have medical insurance to cover injuries that are as much a part of the sport as throwing punches.

Without a definitive documentary produced on MMA, Feng decided he would fill the void and embarked on a yearlong journey to gyms and events across the country. Key to the success of the film was getting behind-the-scenes access to a camp and fighters who were willing to open up about their struggles. Feng knew he found the right group of fighters in San Francisco when he showed up with a camera in tow.

“The first time I walked in the gym, and I met Jake (Shields) and those guys, Gilbert (Melendez) walks in and asked me who I was with, and I told him that I was doing this project,” Feng recalls. “And he says, ‘Well, I hope you’re not just focusing on the fighting because that (expletive) gets old.’ I gained their trust just by showing up. I’m the type of person who’s committed to what I’m doing.”

Collaborating with fighters such as Shields, Melendez, Frank Shamrock, Nick Diaz and Lyle Beerbohm, who overcame drug addiction and a stint in prison to fight professionally, provided Feng with the intimate access he needed to shoot nearly 60 hours of footage. His objective with the film is to provide fans with a perspective he believes many are lacking.

“The real fans know what the fight life is composed of,” Feng said, “but the average dude on the street, you talk to him, he’s like, ‘MMA, yeah UFC, knockouts.’ That’s all he knows about MMA, and I have a problem with that. That’s why everyone involved in this project is so behind it. We’re trying to help people understand the sport and grow the sport so that it’s not just about knockouts and it’s not just about (seeing) fighters getting pissed off, and fans thinking they’re not educated.”

So far, Feng has invested about $30,000 of his own money into the production of the documentary he’s titled “Fight Life” and recently launched a Web site (www.fightlife.tv) to begin promoting the project. He’s been approached by companies interested in distributing the film but has yet to consummate a distribution deal. Feng, who has directed and produced two short films, is optimistic about his chances for a theatrical release of “Fight Life.” He’s currently in post-production and is aiming for a summer 2010 premiere.

“I really want to take my time with this,” Feng said. “I don’t want to rush this and make it a quick product out and make some money off it. That was never my goal. My goal is to make a film that people really want to see and appreciate all the hard work we put it. I would like to get it in theaters. We don’t know how many theaters; that always depends on when you do the contract with the distributer, but DVDs, obviously, and I want to get it on Netflix. I know that MMA films are pretty popular on Netflix. And I’ve talked with a lot of people who think this film will do well overseas, as well.”

Feng’s own struggles as a filmmaker have helped him relate to the fighters whose lives he’ll chronicle in the movie. His first film, “600,” was critically acclaimed, garnering a number of film-festival accolades, including runner-up honors at the 2007 Shanghai Short Film Festival. However, in addition to filmmaking and acting, he continues to support himself in pursuits as disparate as business consulting and coaching tennis.

Everyone, whether a fan of MMA or not, can relate to the perseverance and commitment needed to succeed in any aspect of life. And that’s something Feng is hoping to capture in his documentary.

“The audience is going to see something that is very real – sometimes maybe too real – and raw,” said Feng. “I’m tired of all the (expletive) that’s out there on Spike TV. I got sick watching all those pre-fight interviews on a lot of these programs because I know some of these guys and that’s not how they act. That’s not who they really are as a person. Then, I hear stories from my guys telling me that they (producers) try to get them mad by telling them that so-and-so said something about them. They try to get the guys all mad before the interviews just so they can portray them as this violent brute that wants to take this dude’s head off.”

Feng takes issue with what he sees as manufactured hype in the industry used to reinforce the stereotype of fighters as uneducated thugs.

“It’s a very negative portrayal of people who are real people,” he said. “It’s the same thing with Nick Diaz. You hang out with the guy, you talk to him and realize how intelligent he is and how he really loves fighting. But, then, you have all these things in the media trying to portray him as a bad guy. People manipulate his pre-fight process, but when the fight is over, and you talk to him, you realize that he is a really nice guy. But the media’s never going to do that. They just want to make him look like a bad guy. My vision for the film is to show these guys as they are outside of fighting so you see them as people.”

The money Feng has sunk into the project thus far isn’t enough to get the film to market. He takes pride in self-funding his work and doesn’t try to find investor capital. He’s seeking grants to help cover post-production costs, and he is willing to personally go into debt to make the project a reality.

Lashley’s contract not for sale – With the recent signings of Melvin Manhoef, Mo Lawal and K.J. Noons, Strikeforce is taking necessary steps to solidify its roster.

All three are solid fighters, but they aren’t superstars who will make a meaningful difference at the gate or on television. Strikeforce needs another free-agent fighter or two to get the chat boards humming again and build some buzz. When it comes to potential, perhaps no fighter fits that mold more than Bobby Lashley.

Strikeforce wants the athletic Lashley. However, he is currently under contract to Nashville, Tenn.-based Prize Fight MMA. The heavyweight owes the company two more fights, and indications are that Prize Fight is adamant about seeing those bouts happen.

“They’re not interest in selling Bobby’s contract, and we have been in talks with them, but it’s a complicated deal,” said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker. “So, right now, there are no talks with Bobby Lashley. I’m definitely interested if the deal was right and everybody was realistic.”

Fight Time Promotions debut moved to 2010 – Fight Time Promotions isn’t ready for prime time – at least not yet.

Citing scheduling challenges, the fledgling South Florida promotion is moving its Dec. 12 show to early next year. A representative for the promotion told MMAjunkie.com hat there were “a lot things going on (in December)” that prompted the decision to move the show to February to avoid debuting on the same day as UFC 107.

Fight Time, launched by American Top Team boxing coach Howard Davis Jr., was expected to host its first 10-fight card in Ft. Lauderdale. However, there appeared to be little momentum behind the planned U.S. versus Brazil-themed show, and a fight card never materialized on the promotion’s Web site.

The promotion is now planned its inaugural show for the end of February.

MMA’s drug testing deemed middle of pack – Drug testing policies and procedures in MMA aren’t as good as those in boxing, but they’re a whole lot better than the X Games.

That’s the conclusion of The Wall Street Journal, which recently evaluated the drug-testing policies of 22 sports. The paper assigned a score based on the presence of a policy, its accessibility to the public and severity of sanctions. The International Boxing Federation/U.S. Boxing Association ranked at the top of the list with a score of 94.75. Boxing was praised for testing all fighters after every championship and elimination bout for several illegal substances.

MMA (listed by the paper as UFC) ranked 11th, with a score of 68.75 and undoubtedly was dinged for its lack of uniformity of policies and procedures from state to state.

Stuck at the bottom of the list was the X Games. The ESPN concoction of extreme sports scored a mere 15 points. The X Games has no formal drug-testing policy. However, an ESPN spokeswoman told The Journal, “We are constantly monitoring athletes’ behavior and along with our sport organizers, we have a zero-strike policy that states if a situation occurs regarding drug use with an athlete, they are immediately sent home.”

Apparently, the principal’s office was occupied. And people criticize MMA’s oversight of drug use. Go figure.

Steve Sievert is the lead staff writer and business columnist for
MMAjunkie.com. He is also the former MMA beat writer and lead blogger
for the Houston Chronicle.

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